


Secret Santa

by youweretheanswer



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Christmas, M/M, Secret Santa, The Office AU, loosely based on the christmas party episode
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youweretheanswer/pseuds/youweretheanswer
Summary: Michael stresses out over what to get Jeremy for Secret Santa, but it turns out it doesn’t matter as much in the end as he thought.





	Secret Santa

**Author's Note:**

> i’m not saying this is an au loosely based on that one episode of the office but............ heh. also have fun guessing who the characters are based off of, whoever can get them all right wins my heart

Christmas was by far Michael’s favorite holiday. Deep down in his heart, hidden behind his “stoic businessman” exterior, he was a true romantic. He loved getting up early to bake cookies with his little nieces and nephews, walking around downtown on Christmas Eve and looking at the lights, and decorating his childhood home with his moms and his sister’s family. Michael was also big on gift giving. He didn’t like easy gifts, like gift cards or money. He liked to choose things that were sentimental; things that could be cherished for years. Above all that, he desperately wanted to spend Christmastime with someone he loved. Unfortunately, the last time he had a boyfriend was in college. Michael was now twenty-nine, and he felt his window of opportunity closing quickly. His moms always said he’d find someone out there, but the fact that his younger sister was already married and had three kids made him doubtful. 

He’d been on dates with guys since his last real relationship, but none of the dates were serious and Michael honestly couldn’t see a future with any of them. He had gotten his current job just out of college and had worked with the same people since he was hired. He didn’t have a ton of friends other than his coworkers, and since he refused to do online dating, there wasn’t a huge pool of guys to choose from. Basically, his love life sucked and he couldn’t foresee any improvement. 

And then there was Jeremy. Jeremy Heere, the office secretary, who Michael fell in love with at first glance on his first day in the office. Jeremy always ate the same thing for lunch every single day. His laugh was so joyful that it melted Michael’s heart when he heard it. One time, Jeremy fell asleep on Michael’s shoulder during a conference room meeting and Michael, being utterly in love, let Jeremy sleep until fifteen minutes after the meeting ended. That was an awkward wake-up. 

Michael wasn’t obsessed. Just observant. He observed that Jeremy laughed at all his stupid jokes. He observed that Jeremy would doodle cartoons of everyone in the office during meetings. He observed that Jeremy was unsatisfied in his current relationship with the dick who worked in the warehouse downstairs. Jeremy had been dating Dylan long before Michael was hired about five years ago. They had been engaged for over five years and had never even set a tentative date for the wedding. Michael knew he could make Jeremy happy. He was one of the only people who could get Jeremy to smile at work, and his fiancé definitely wasn’t one of them. So Michael waited. He listened to Jeremy’s vent sessions about how awful it was to come home every night with a lazy asshole who never did anything around the house. He watched Jeremy’s façade of happiness slowly deteriorate as the months passed. But most of all, he pined after him, longing to get that beautiful boy in his life. 

“Conference room, STAT!” Eric yelled. Michael’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud voice coming from behind his ear. Eric was their crazy boss, and Michael honestly didn’t know how he got the position. Everything he said or did violated at least three company rules. But Eric was his boss, so Michael had to go along with his crazy schemes. Michael, being the closest to the door, was the first one in. He sat on the end of the second row, eyeing the seat next to him as the rest of the office shuffled in the door. He was silently hoping Jeremy would sit there, but he didn’t want to make it weird, so he hoped everyone else would pick up on his social cues. 

“Mikey!! My amigo,” Jake exclaimed as his giant frame entered the room. “Can’t believe you saved a seat for me!” 

“I- yeah, totally for you, Jake,” Michael sighed as Jake plopped down. Michael looked up as Jeremy entered the room. He looked bored out of his mind. Michael thought he looked like an angel even if he had a case of RBF. Jeremy’s eyes scanned the room and spotted an empty seat. He began to make his way to the opposite end of Michael’s row and locked eyes with Michael. Jeremy gave a small smile, and Michael quickly turned his head away, hoping that Jeremy wouldn’t realize he was staring. 

“Can everyone be quiet for five seconds? God,” Eric complained. “Christmas is a time for family. It’s a time for fun. And it’s a time where everyone you love buys you things you want. Now, we all remember what happened last year at the Christmas party, right Jenna?”

“In my defense, the events that happened during last year’s party were not caused by me. If I may, I would like to state my case as to why Michael-“

“Let it go, Jenna,” Eric retorted with a sigh. “Our lovely Party Planning Committee has come up with a much more suitable way of swapping gifts than the outdoor scavenger hunt that Jenna organized. When it was snowing. And negative ten degrees outside.” Jenna looked appalled at that statement, but whatever she was about to say was silenced by the clearing of a throat. Christine glared at Jenna as she waited for complete silence to speak. 

“This year, we have arranged a Secret Santa swap. Pass around these Post-its, write your name on them, and fold them up and put them in this bin.” Christine handed the stack and the bin to Rich, who couldn’t figure out how to get just one Post-it note off the stack. Jake leaned up to help, and Rich had to ask Jake how to spell his own name. Michael stared at the ceiling. How did he get a job at a workplace full of idiots? The only sane people were him and Jeremy. Thank God for Jeremy. 

“We’ll swap this Friday during the party. If you have any questions, don’t ask me.” Christine walked back to her seat as the bin was passed down each row. It finally reached Eric, and he dramatically threw his paper into the bin like a basketball, yelling ‘Kobe!’ and missing the bin entirely. Eric shuffled the papers and passed the bin around the room a second time. 

It finally reached Michael, and he was frozen in his seat. His heart beat out of his chest as he slowly unfolded the Post-it note. He closed his eyes, made a wish upon the LED light over his chair, then opened them. After processing what he saw, he couldn’t believe his luck. There, in neat handwriting, was written “Jeremy Heere.” He started beaming and looked to his right, but caught himself when he made eye contact with Jeremy. Jeremy smirked at Michael, and Michael just sighed because he wanted to be with the other man so badly. He passed the bin on to the row behind him, and began to think of all the things he wanted to get Jeremy. It had to have special meaning, and it had to be nice. He spent the day in a trance after the meeting, so happy that he could give Jeremy an amazing gift under the anonymous freedom that Secret Santa provided. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice Jeremy trying to get his attention from the secretary’s desk. 

“Michael? Can you hear me?” 

“H-hey!” Michael shook his head and tried to focus his thoughts. Jeremy was doing that smirk thing again, making Michael’s heart ache. He motioned for Michael to come to his desk, so like a lost puppy, he wandered over.

“Who’d you get for Secret Santa?” Jeremy asked playfully. 

“Well, if I told you it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, now would it?” 

“Come on, Micah.” Chills were sent down Michael’s spine at that nickname. “You can tell me anything, you know?”

“No way! You have to be patient. You’ll find out soon enough. Besides, it’s no one special.” Lies. 

“Oh really? Is it, like, Chloe? I know she can be annoying but-“ 

“No, it’s not her. I can’t give you any more hints!” 

“Fine,” Jeremy sighed. “At least get them something good. Don’t procrastinate like you always do.” Jeremy giggled as he said that and Michael blushed. 

“Oh trust me, they’re gonna get the best gift they’ve ever received. I can promise that.” Michael hoped that was true. Three hours later on his drive home, Michael was still thinking about what to get Jeremy. He cooked dinner for himself and did some paperwork, but couldn’t focus. Even as he lied in bed awake, he was still thinking about what to buy. It was giving him a little anxiety. It was a lot of pressure, and if he got something stupid the entire office would roast him for it. He slowly drifted off, his mind plagued with thoughts of Jeremy opening and loving his gift, and decided to put it off another day.

**Author's Note:**

> i leave for college in 9 days so WHO KNOWS when any of my stuff will update :^) out of my league will probably be before this one but we’ll see


End file.
